This chapter ended up being, like, eleven pages, so I had to split it in two. But I tried to cut it off at a relatively conclusive point of the chapter so that it won't seem too abrupt when you're reading.
Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical
Head-Trauma Convention Part 1
Sharpay was sitting silently in her family room with her laptop turned on and poised for an internet search, but she seemed to have forgotten her purpose. Instead, she was staring at the opposite wall with a distant expression in her eyes. This was the scene that greeted Ryan when he tried to approach Sharpay for the first time since he'd walked out on her. Timidly, Ryan stepped toward the couch and slowly lowered himself onto the cushion next to Sharpay. She didn't acknowledge his presence. She just continued staring at the blank wall.
Unsure of himself, Ryan swallowed loudly before commencing his rehearsed speech. "Shar? I'm sorry." He had more to say but that one phrase took so much effort, he had to recuperate before continuing. Unfortunately, Sharpay beat him there.
"No you aren't," she said harshly.
"What?" he asked, just as harshly.
Taking a deep breath, Sharpay transferred her gaze from the wall to Ryan. "You aren't sorry. And I'm not sorry, either. But, you know what? It's OK. You did what you had to do in order to keep yourself from murdering me. I understand that. You don't have to apologize. I called you filthy words behind your back to keep from saying them to your face and I'm not going to apologize. It was how we felt at the time." By this point, the twins were matching glare for glare.
Suddenly, with a huge grin on his face and a jubilant expression in his eyes, Ryan threw his arms around Sharpay and squeezed her tight. "That's my sister!" He exclaimed happily. With one last squeeze, he released Sharpay and immediately vaulted himself toward the DVD collection. "Let's celebrate this breakthrough with a movie," He suggested while running his index finger over the DVD titles, looking for his favorite.
"Whatever," Sharpay mumbled, pulling her laptop closer to her. She'd just remembered why she'd pulled it out in the first place. Regardless of the fact that the text message from the other day was not meant for her, its message was still successful in reminding her about the existence of e-mail. With that in mind, Sharpay had to first remember her e-mail address and password without bothering Ryan, considering they'd just now made-up. After pulling up her e-mail log-in screen, Sharpay sat back to consider the possibilities.
"Do you want to watch anything specific?" Ryan asked, still looking through the DVD's.
"I don't care," Sharpay responded dully. She couldn't remember any film, anyway, so they were all new to her.
She'd had the address and password written down in her 'self notes' that she'd taken, with help from Troy and Ryan, while in the hospital, but she'd carelessly left that notebook in Troy's car after their second trip to Utah. If it weren't for the fact that Troy and company still had a mandated exile on her, she'd simply ask him for the notebook back, but Sharpay thought it better to let hot tempers simmer down before inadvertently enflaming them again. So, now she was racking her brain, attempting to recall the address and password from memory.
"How about 'Ice Princess'?" He suggested, looking back at his sister for affirmation.
Sharpay stiffened her posture in attentiveness as her eyes lit up, bringing her features to life after the dull, thoughtful expression she'd previously settled in. "That's it!" She loudly exclaimed while excitedly typing 'Ice.Princess' into the e-mail section. 'Now I just need the password,' she thought, falling back into the couch, brows furrowed in intense concentration.
Ryan smiled along with Sharpay's initial display of enthusiasm, but he quickly exchanged his smile for trepidation when her energy so suddenly disappeared. Shaking off his unease, he placed the disc into the player and turned the TV on. "This movie is absolutely fabulous. You are going to love it." Ryan said as he returned to the couch playing with the remotes, getting the movie to the main menu and eventually to play.
Snapping her head up, Sharpay quietly repeated "Fabulous?". Ryan nodded, though he wasn't completely paying attention to her behavior, anymore. Sharpay considered the word, then with the same amount of enthusiasm she'd had with her first discovery, she shouted "FABULOUS!" and threw her arms up in victory. Ryan gave her a quizzical look, but she just shook her head in response to his silent question and coolly lowered her arms to type the word into her password section.
Sharpay watched as her computer screen slowly loaded the page. A lot of the e-mails that hadn't been opened yet were from what she assumed were her frequently visited retailers before her accident. With no mind to buy anything, Sharpay quickly and carelessly deleted those messages, leaving her with just two unknown senders.
One was from Youtube Service. Sharpay recognized that from her weblogs. Seeing that it was another comment on her last weblog, she decided to start with this e-mail:
Subject: New Message – "On The Run"
From: King Philip
To: Sharpay Evans
following message is in response to your Webvideo "On The Run":
Hey Sharpay
I haven't heard from you in a while. Please tell me you've just gone dark and not that the cult leaders found you. In fact, I know they didn't find you because you are too brilliantly evasive. I'm just worried. Whenever you get a chance, please please please send something my way so I know you're OK. I'm just worried about you. And Ryan.
Also, I wanted to remind you that my offer still stands. If you need a safe place to hide, my parents left me this huge mansion in Los Angeles that I have no use for. It has great security and I'll be there to help, so you can finally relax.
This is an automated e-mail. Please, do not reply.
Sharpay couldn't help but to smile as she read the message. It was a shame, really, that all the sacrificial cult weblogs were fake. King Philip sounded like he really wanted to help. Oh well. Ignoring his plea for a response, Sharpay closed out the message and proceeded to investigate her next e-mail. This one was from A. Friend and it read like this:
Subject: This is a Threat
From: A. Friend
To: Sharpay Evans
Ashley,
The game is up. We've found you. And if you don't come forward to the media, we're going to kill you.
A. Friend
Face falling, Sharpay deleted this message as well. 'What is it with this damn Ashley girl?' Sharpay thought with irritation. She was really hoping for some interesting e-mail, but it all turned out to be junk. Closing her laptop, she placed it on the floor and tried to turn her full attention to the movie.
"Oh crap!" Sharpay suddenly exclaimed. The movie was almost over but she hadn't really been paying attention. Mostly, she was staring at the screen while thinking about her life. All two and a half weeks that she could remember, in any case.
"What's wrong?" Ryan asked, reluctantly shifting his focus.
"I forgot about the Head-Trauma Convention tonight!"
"So?" Ryan couldn't see the problem here.
"It's just, I made plans with Zeke yesterday and I can't cancel on him. He's my only friend!" She explained sounding unusually pathetic.
Before Ryan had a chance to respond, the sound of Sharpay's cell phone ring could be heard, slightly muffled. Scrambling to find it, Sharpay thrust her hand into the cushions of the couch, figuring it had fallen in there again. It didn't take much for her hand to smack against a solid object and her fingers to curl around the still ringing device. Without looking at the caller ID, she opened the phone and slammed it against her ear, shouting "HELLO?"
Ryan had watched this entire process with amusement, but when he heard her shouted greeting he had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing.
Sharpay ignored Ryan as she was too busy talking on her cell phone for the first time. In her ear piece she heard a soft chuckle before Zeke replied "Hey Shar. Phone in the couch again?"
Sharpay laughed, trying to mask her embarrassment and confidently replied "Zeke! I was just talking about you! Yeah, it seems to be an epidemic." She'd started to cringe before she had even finished saying the words. That hadn't made any sense! Ryan snorted, unable to hold his laughter down anymore. He hastily ducked out of the room after Sharpay violently swatted at his arm to shut him up.
"Right," Zeke replied slowly. "Anyway, I'm calling about tonight. I am really sorry, Shar. I feel like such a prick doing this to you, but I'm going to have to ask for a rain check."
'Rain check?' Sharpay glanced out of her family room window at the clear blue skies above. 'What the Hell?'. At the risk of sounding ignorant, Sharpay cautiously asked "Rain check?"
"Yeah. I completely forgot, I had already promised my boss that I'd work tonight. I am so sorry, you have no idea," He replied sounding almost as though he were about to cry.
"Zeke, it's OK. Don't worry about it." Sharpay replied as reassuringly as she could, in spite of her disappointment. "We'll just talk tomorrow, yeah?"
"Yeah," he replied with a heavy sigh. "Good-bye, Shar."
Sharpay slowly closed her phone as she called out "It's safe to come back, Ryan."
Ryan reentered the room much calmer than he had left it. Sitting on the couch again, he asked with true curiosity "What'd Zeke want?"
"He had to cancel." Sharpay replied with disappointment evident in her voice. "Looks like I'm going to that Convention after all."
"Ryan, I'll be ready in five minutes!" Sharpay called through her doorway and down the hall, mascara brush in hand. She was getting ready for the Head-Trauma Convention, but was running very late. "Ryan?" She called again since she hadn't heard him respond. Again, nothing. Starting with an eye roll, Sharpay ran down to his room and burst through the closed door in a huff, only to find the room empty. She was about ready to embark on a mansion-wide search when she remembered – "Cell phone!"
She ran back to her room and grabbed her phone off of her night stand. She quickly typed in Ryan's number then put the phone to her ear as she returned to her vanity table to finish making up her other eye.
"What's up Shar?" he answered on the third ring.
"Where in Gods name are you? I'm almost ready to go!" She screamed into the phone.
"Go? Go whe – oh, crap. I'm so sorry Shar. I completely forgot about the convention. I'm not home right now. Maybe one of the parents can take you?" he suggested, feeling slightly guilty at feeding Sharpay this false hope. There was absolutely no way their parents would make time for one of their children.
"Maybe," Sharpay replied doubtfully. "I'll give it a try"
"Good luck," Ryan said before hanging up.
Sharpay closed her phone, pondering the attitudes of her parents. Her dad was clearly an important man. She'd hardly spent any time with him these past couple of weeks, so she didn't know much about his personality. And her mom was nice enough, though maybe a little self-centered. She decided she'd try her mom first, and she knew exactly where to find her.
Quietly tapping her finger on the door of the guest-entertaining room, Sharpay opened it slightly and peaked through.
"Sharpay, honey!" her mother exclaimed with laughter in her voice and a glare in her eyes. "Don't just hover in the doorway, come in and greet the rest of the society women."
Suddenly nervous, Sharpay stepped completely into the dimly lit room and looked around. All around her were perched, silicone enhanced, sprayed on tan, middle aged women, all holding a martini glass in their freshly manicured, jewel encrusted fingers. "Hello, everybody," Sharpay said in a small voice accompanied with an awkward hand wave. A few of the women gave Sharpay curt nods or icy smiles, but the majority studied her appearance before blatantly averting their eyes.
"Well? Don't dawdle. What do you want?" her mother asked impatiently.
"Um, well, I was hoping you could give me a ride to this Hea – um, I mean, just convention, this convention that I'm attending in town?" Sharpay asked with a slight stutter. She'd almost forgotten that her mother didn't like her to mention her amnesia.
Mrs. Evans threw her head back in an un-ladylike cackle, "Oh Sharpay, dear. I thought you were serious!" she laughed then drained her martini glass. Heading towards the bar, she continued, "You know perfectly well that James has tonight off."
"James?" Sharpay asked quietly.
Turning sharply to face Sharpay again, Mrs. Evans furiously barked "Yes. James. The driver. James. You know who I am talking about!" It wasn't a question.
"Yes. Of course, mother." Sharpay replied curtly, straightening her posture and matching her mother's glare. "I'm sorry to have interrupted your evening. Good night ladies." She then turned on her heal and exited the room.
Completely disheartened, Sharpay decided to skip asking her dad all together. She was not in the mood to be humiliated by family members, again. Instead, she just walked right past his half-open office door ("And then she stepped on the ball!") and returned to her room. But Sharpay was not one to give up that easily, she just needed new tactics.
Overlooking her earlier plight at caution, Sharpay picked up her phone and dialed the one number that she knew she could coerce.
Troy was watching the news in his family room when he heard his phone ringing in his bedroom. Eagerly leaping over the back of the couch, he tore down the hallway and into his room to get to his phone. He saw Sharpay's name on the screen and had to quickly chastise himself for his excitement. Taking a deep breath, he wiped the smile from his face and opened the phone answering with a cold "Hello?"
A few things...
This definitely wouldn't let me put an e-mail address into the text...
Anyway, I realized that Sharpay had called Ryan on his cell phone in chapter 2. But she hadn't used her cell phone till last chapter. My explanation (excuse?) is that in chapter 2 she'd been calling from a LAN line that was in her closet...so she hadn't found her cell phone yet.
I don't have a Youtube account, so I don't actually know what the e-mails look like when people comment. Just go with it...
Also, I added a line in chapter 5 to mention her reading her "self notes" notebook while in the car. I really like my chapters to contain references and clues to past and future chapters, which is why I ended up adding that line in. It doesn't change that chapter at all, so you don't have to go back to read it if you don't want to.
I want to thank Ascii27 for being a wonderful writer and an amazing person. You rock!
And
Please Review, everybody!
